Retargeting technology is getting a second wind from venture capitalists and other ad companies. The most recent example is Magnetic , which has received a total of $5.25 million from Charles River Ventures, Ron Conway, NYC Investment Fund, Founder Collective and IA Capital Partners. The company plans to use the money to further develop its search re-targeting technology for all types of media buyers. It also announced a new option for advertisers - search re-targeted campaigns for advertisers and agencies.

Criteo also recently landed $7 million in Series C round of funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $24 million. Criteo, which offers display ad retargeting using a performance-based CPC model, is using the capital to build out new data centers and other infrastructure.

Finally, there is GSI Commerce, which just closed on its acquisition of FetchBack.  GSI is using FetchBack's retargeting technology to expand its marketing services and reach into new vertical markets.

The most notable boost to the technology occurred earlier this year when Google rolled out a new AdWord remarketing feature to be used throughout its Content Network. It allows AdWords advertisers to pitch an ad to consumers anywhere they happen to be in Google’s Content Network - based off of either where the consumer recently visited or as part of an integrated search ad campaign.

Remarketing is not new - but it is vastly under-utilized, according to a survey conducted last year by Advertise.com and the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), which found that only 31% of surveyed marketers have tried it. "The fact that Google is rolling this out throughout its entire network is very significant for advertisers," said Jarvis Coffin, CEO of Burst Media (via the E-Commerce Times).